BUT that is certainly not the case at many (most?) universities. And when one looks at high school transcripts, seeing a student got a grade of A in, say, high school calculus does not really say that much either; I’ve seen many such students fail to place into freshman calculus ..and even struggle greatly in a pre-calculus class! Variation between high schools and grade inflation really make it difficult to screen based on high school transcripts alone.

And, eventually, some high schools develop reputations of sending underprepared students to college…so a student from such a school might well suffer from their school being “profiled” as low quality. So, an entrance exam score could well mitigate that effect.

So, my preferred method of affirmative action would be to take student backgrounds into account, as well as college entrance scores, at least for an institution like mine.

But, we had another mass shooting at a school, this one in Santa Fe, Texas which is in Galveston County (Trump 60-35 in 2016) and which is in TX-14, which is represented by Randy Webber who has a grade of A from the NRA.

Nothing will be done, aside from empty platitudes, “thoughts and prayers” and the locals saying that we need to turn to Jesus, or something. Yes, there were armed guards at this school.

So, the kids are going to flock to the polls and make the NRA pay? Uh, perhaps not.

But first about Twitter: there was a tweet from a pundit that talked about Trump “sinking”.He really isn’t:

I added the smoothed green line to show the general trend. Not much to see here; it dipped a little and rose a little; right now it is between 42-44 percent, depending on which poll aggregate you use.

The above is from Fivethirtyeight (they weight the polls differently, according to accuracy, partisan bias, etc.)

And yes, on the whole, Trump ranks lower than Obama at the same point in their respective administrations:

So, that is clear enough? Well, no…I added that Trump was inching up but “still low” and some Trump supporter attempted to correct me by relying on the Rasmussen poll; the “most accurate” he says (not so fast; though it did have the most accurate “last national poll prior to the election” if one disregards margin of error and disregards how scattered they were in the previous days prior to the election)

And he really “got me” when he gave me a screen shot of the Real Clear Politics aggregate of the various states…one which called the close states ….toss ups (and did give Wisconsin a “lean Clinton”).
Clearly he does not understand what “toss up” means..never mind knowing what “stochastic” means.

And so it goes with Twitter discussions: people who don’t know what they are talking about decide to “educate” you. So I just up and blocked him; I am not going to waste my time with such people, even if they aren’t as nasty as others.

But on the other side of things: you see things like “Trump is sinking”, “blue wave” (unlikely…MAYBE we eek out a win in one chamber), etc.

I think that, when it comes to politics, I’ll just refrain from engaging and focus on reading articles.

The joy of a game

The Peoria Chiefs once again jumped on the relief pitching of the Clinton Lumberkings and rallied from 5-1 down in the top of the 8’th to win 7-5. The Clinton starter kept the Chiefs at bay and allowed 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 6 in 5 innings. But they went to a reliever in the 6’th (evidently his number of pitches were up) and the first reliever did fine for 2 innings. But the second one came in at the bottom of the 8’th and it was batting practice for the Chiefs: they got 6 runs off 2 walks and 5 hits as the Chiefs batted around.

Once again, it was a kid’s matinee and once again, Vickie was fun company.

This weekend’s Peoria Komen Race for the Cure had just over 5500 participants, including 216 in the “time run” division. I remember back in 2012, there were 201 men running and over 840 females; in fact, I “won” an age group award in the 50-54 male division but would not have placed in the same age group among the women! (reason: the larger female division attracted good runners; most of the men were people like me).

As for me: well, I still like the race (and even prefer a less crowded course, which is the silver lining for me) and so fell on the “participate” side of skepticism. But in terms of size and scope, it clearly isn’t what it once was.

Workout notes my legs were a bit heavy from this weekend so my walk was an easy 2 miler. But first came weights: leisurely pace. shoulder pt:

Lifting is just plain weird. The weights do not feel heavier than they did 20-30 years ago; I merely lack the strength to make the lift. It is as if my muscle has been replaced by jello. I talked to a former Bradley athlete who is in his late 80’s and he had some interesting observations. One was that his MIND has slowed down..and his mind is very much involved in his athletic movements.

Mine really isn’t; in terms of kinesthetic intelligence, I am “special needs”. I often have no idea what my body is doing..only a mental video of what I *think* it is doing…and that video often does not match reality. I had a a terrible time when I was growing up.

I remember once embarrassing my dad at a baseball game; I was at bat, hit a pop fly and fell down in the batter’s box when I tried to run to first. I got back up but was thrown out (they dropped the fly..hey it was Little League). Dad came up to me in the dugout and said that he would pull me from the team if I couldn’t do any better than that. Yes, he was man enough to apologize to me later in the day. But the fact remains my body is easily confused; that is one reason that I am a dreadful trail runner; if someone is with me in, say, a road 5K, they will probably crush me in a trail race (if they have any experience at all).

Oh..that was a digression. But the point is that an athlete ages a bit differently than the rest of us as his/her mind is very much a part of their sport, and the mind declines with age.

A female student at Cornell University stripped down to her underwear—twice—before presenting her senior thesis to professors and other students.

The student was attempting to strike a blow against the patriarchy, repudiating her media arts professor’s advice to dress up for the presentation. Yet I can’t help but wonder: On what planet is this not a violation of Title IX, the federal anti-harassment statute that so many college administrators cite when cracking down on problematic, sexually charged behavior?

The student, Letitia Chai, was practicing her presentation in class while wearing cutoff jean shorts. That outfit, The Cornell Daily Sun reports, drew a rebuke from professor Rebekah Maggor, who asked, “Is that really what you would wear?”

“I do not tell my students what to wear, nor do I define for them what constitutes appropriate dress,” Maggor later clarified in an email to the Sun. “I ask them to reflect for themselves and make their own decisions.” Indeed, the syllabus warns students to “dress appropriately for the persona” they plan to present.

Hmmm, so we have a professor who seems apologetic about suggesting appropriate attire for a presentation and a young woman who strips down to her underwear to “fight the patriarchy”?

By the way, I’ve been to quite a few student presentations. They almost always wear nice clothes.

But however petty Trump’s motives, this is a big deal from the other side. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that new work requirements plus other restrictions proposed by House Republicans would end up denying or reducing nutritional aid to around two million people, mostly in families with children.

Why would anyone want to do that? The thing is, it’s not just Trump: Conservative hatred for food stamps is pervasive. What’s behind it?

The more respectable, supposedly intellectual side of conservative opinion portrays food stamps as reducing incentives by making life too pleasant for the poor. As Paul Ryan put it, SNAP and other programs create a “hammock” that “lulls able-bodied people to lives of dependency and complacency.”

But this is a problem that exists only in the right’s imagination. Able-bodied SNAP recipients who should be working but aren’t are very hard to find: A vast majority of the program’s beneficiaries either are working — but at unstable jobs that pay low wages — or are children, elderly, disabled or essential family caregivers.

Oh, and there’s strong evidence that children in low-income families that receive food stamps become more productive and healthier adults, which means that the program is actually good for long-run economic growth.

Krugman points out that the program really isn’t that expensive; it is the very act of helping “losers” that burns them:

In the end, I don’t believe there’s any policy justification for the attack on food stamps: It’s not about the incentives, and it’s not about the money. And even the racial animus that traditionally underlies attacks on U.S. social programs has receded partially into the background.

No, this is about petty cruelty turned into a principle of government. It’s about privileged people who look at the less fortunate and don’t think, “There but for the grace of God go I”; they just see a bunch of losers. They don’t want to help the less fortunate; in fact, they get angry at the very idea of public aid that makes those losers a bit less miserable.

So, IF this is true, why is it true? Well, there are certainly stupid, unpleasant people getting public aid:

But is this most of them? Realistically: probably not. But I can say this:

1. Disgust at freeloaders is probably innate; my guess is that this probably stems from human evolution; after all we spent tens to hundreds of thousands of years barely eking out an existence; a freeloader could well damage our clan or tribe in a serious way.

2. We also evolved to reason inductively; we go by what we see and extend it. Example: most of the people I know either grew up around me or around family members; by definition we had roughly the same opportunities. In come cases, we had the same parents. And the ones who ended up mostly dependent on public aid are the ones who made stupid decisions after stupid decisions and EXPECTED other family members to bail them out..over and over and over again. They were all “don’t tell me what to do” when they were about to something stupid and irresponsible, but when the consequences came, they had their hands out..over and over again.

One bright day in late autumn a family of Ants were bustling about in the warm sunshine, drying out the grain they had stored up during the summer, when a starving Grasshopper, his fiddle under his arm, came up and humbly begged for a bite to eat.

“What!” cried the Ants in surprise, “haven’t you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?”

“I didn’t have time to store up any food,” whined the Grasshopper; “I was so busy making music that before I knew it the summer was gone.”

The Ants shrugged their shoulders in disgust.

“Making music, were you?” they cried. “Very well; now dance!” And they turned their backs on the Grasshopper and went on with their work.

Now, it really isn’t as simple as all that..that much is true. Accidents happen, illnesses happen, lay offs happen, businesses go bankrupt and mistreat workers, and people get abused by others. And yes, some are born into situations where they have less opportunity from the get-go and zero margin of error; no one to give them that lower interest loan to tide them over, etc. Anecdotes are not data (until you have a LOT of them anyway).

So, ultimately, I agree with Krugman’s point and support such programs…all the while having some disgust toward the slackers and the idiots, some of who will be helped by such programs. It is impossible to have a program that only benefits the “virtuous poor”. The benefits of these programs outweigh the downsides.

Workout notes Ooops on the food choices: 203.6 was what I weighed before lifting…but yesterday I ate “high bloat” foods. Still..I like to be below 200.

This is a reasonably accurate view of how many Republicans view us. So I will discuss these, one by one. And yes, I will be speaking for myself. And yes, one each of these points, save perhaps the last one (no, abortion is NOT murder) and the one about “persecuting Christians” (no sane American wants anything resembling “persecution”) you will find at least a few liberals that the points apply to..and yes, some really do not believe in prisons, at all.

Let illegals in: this one is interesting. If you dig deep enough, it is certain INDUSTRIES that want illegal immigrants; they can get away of paying their workers less AND being a bit harsher. What you are seeing from liberals is that we want a realistic solution for those who are already here; you just aren’t going to bus them all back. And many of us take..yep..Ronald Reagan positions.

Remember that Republicans used to speak THIS way:

Yes, there are a few “people have the right to go anywhere in the world they want to go, regardless of borders” liberals; you can find them. But they aren’t mainstream.

Let criminals out Yes, there are a few (very few) who believe in no prisons at all. But what most of us want is more equitable criminal justice (e. g. not jailing people for years over marijuana, more even sentencing, more leeway for judges to use individual judgment in cases, etc. But we don’t want dangerous criminals in our neighborhoods any more than Republicans do.

coddle the lazy Ok, this might have a bit of truth in it for more (but by no means all) liberals. There are many who make excuses for any behavior (like this). But many of us take a somewhat more nuanced view.

First of all, there are people who genuinely need it (even conservatives accept this). And there is a balances between making the program usable and efficient and putting in so many “catch the slackers” checks that the programs either become unusable or more expensive than necessary (e. g. drug tests for welfare).

persecute Christians Ok, while it is true that many liberals do not accept that any religion should dictate what the rest of us should do, to think that there is anything above a crackpot level of support for a genuine persecution of Christians is absurd. And no, saying that others shouldn’t be a captive audience to your prayers at a public event is hardly “persecution” Calling creationism a discredited crackpot theory is not persecution.

demonize police officers Ok, you can find a few liberals who do. Yes, there have been outrageous chants directed at police at some BLM rallies. But what MOST of us want is more equitable law enforcement: for people to not be singled out because of their race. You’d think that wanting people to be judged for what THEY actually do rather than what some who might share a skin tone with them do is, well, a deeply conservative idea.

Here is a REPUBLICAN talking about the matter; I think that he gets it right.

let boys in Girl’s bathrooms This is so new, and yes, when there is an underdog group that is being attacked, liberals tend to rally around. But this is a seriously complicated issue. And we have to ask ourselves: why do we want sex specific bathrooms? Once we can answer that question, then we can move further.

And yes, IMHO, something like bathrooms are different than, say, locker rooms..many biological females would not be comfortable seeing “transwomen with male genitals”.

tolerate and accept radial Islam This is where there is a mixture of dishonesty and misunderstanding on both sides. Yes, many liberals are too reluctant to call out the excesses of Islamic states and the noxious, bigoted, and religiously approved actions from some Muslim communities around the world. And some of the ones to call liberals to task over this are, well, other liberals.

On the other hand, I’d assume that most US Muslims are here because they want a society where there IS freedom. And, no Republicans: my saying that US Muslims should have the same rights to build mosques that Christians have to build churches does not mean that I support ISIS. PS: US conservatives have a great deal more in common with conservative Muslims than I do…women’s rights, gay rights, etc.

advocate for the murder of the unborn As long as you conflate abortion with murder, we may as well not even talk. To conflate the two is absurd.

I have a love-hate relationship with pull ups. Yes, there was a time in my life when I couldn’t do a single one; I managed for work up to 4-5 of them in high school, 12 in college and then hit my PR of 27 as a young man. I still do them: typically I do 5 sets of 10 with rest breaks of hip hikes, toe raises and rotator cuff exercises, though sometimes I do 2 sets of 15, 2 of 10. And ok, while the first 4-5 are pretty good reps, maybe the final 2-3 reps in a set of 10 are “iffy” as far as getting that chin completely over the bar?

Today, I did them as follows: 4 sets of 5 with brief (10-20 second) rests, and did this twice, followed by a set of 10. OMG, this hurts; my guess is that they are of better quality.
Is it really worth so much effort to look good for Lynnor for my Steamboat photos? 🙂

Ok, part of it might be my overcompensating for my grade school PE humiliations (where the gym teachers openly ridiculed me..I was a fat little f**k) and part of it is my fight against aging.

Weird note: when I signed in I found out that the name of the hottest yoga student in the class is “K. Johnson”. Oh..when I saw “Johnson” I sure hoped that it would be “Carmen Johnson”..it wasn’t. That would have been hilarious.

About Blueollie

To keep track of my sports activities. I rarely train for anything anymore; mostly I just do workouts of the following types: running, walking, weight lifting and swimming. My best ultra accomplishment was walking 101 miles in 24 hours in 2004. These days, I walk a marathon every once in a while (5:50 to 7 hours) There was a time when I could run a sub 40 minute 10K (did that once), but that was another lifetime ago; these a days 2427-2825 25:50-27:45 minutes for a 5K would be more like it. I also have an off and on interest in yoga and in weight training. My lifetime PB in the bench is 310; currently I do sets of 4-5 with 190.

To discuss the football, basketball or baseball game I’ve been to. Since 2011, I started to attend live football games regularly (University of Illinois, sometimes Illinois State, sometimes either the Colts or Bears of the NFL…don’t get me started on the Rams) ; I’ve attended Bradley Basketball games (men and women) for some time. In the past 3 years, I started to watch live baseball again (mostly the Peoria Chiefs and Bradley University).

From time to time, I post what I am thinking about mathematically

I often post links to science articles, especially articles about cosmology and evolution.

I am very sympathetic to the “new atheist” movement, though some might consider me to be an agnostic. I reject any notion of a deity that interferes with physical events, but remain agnostic to the idea that there might be something “grand and wonderful” (Dawkins’ phrase) outside of our current spacetime continuum.

I am a liberal Democrat who thinks that the current social atmosphere is tilted way too far toward the interests of big business, and I reject the idea that a “free market” cures all ills, though pure socialism doesn’t work either. I am also a believer in the freedom of speech, including speech that I might not like. Also, I’ve been involved (to a moderate degree) with political campaigns, ranging from City Council races up to Presidential races.

I like to post photos of trips and vacations.

I like women in spandex. 🙂

The 2016 election: I voted for Hillary Clinton and was dismayed that she lost the Electoral College, though I take a bit of comfort that a plurality of voters preferred her (by just over 2 percentage points!)

I see Donald Trump as an unqualified amateur who lacks the humility and deportment to be an effective president; I sure hope the time proves me wrong. I’ve been wrong before (e. g. my election prediction) and will be wrong again. I hope this is one of those times.